As a wood artisan for over the past 15 years Kees pursues his passion of making beautiful, functional items from exotic hardwoods. He designs his pieces with the motto 'Art That Works'. A European background and love for elegant simplicity is evident in the clean, flowing, organic lines of his work. Some of his items include mirrors, bookends, vases, and keepsake boxes.

To create these items, he considers the 'form' of any new design to be his first requirement. He will make a number of prototypes, consider a variety of design principles such as the golden proportions, the Fibonacci series, etc., until he has what he feels to be a satisfactory design. During this process, consideration is also given to the unique requirements of working with wood, including joinery, wood grain, wood movement, finishing, etc.

Substantial time is spent in locating the appropriate hardwoods. He consistently searches through the suppliers on Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, Washington, and Oregon for raw materials. The suppliers he uses all support the sustainable forestry concept.

Each piece is handmade by Kees in his home workshop. The items are sanded to a fine smooth finish. Then, three to five coats of a hand rubbed, varnish type finish is applied with sanding and buffing between each coat.